Hospital identification bracelets of the kind shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,665 are in widespread use in the United States. These bracelets include a flat tubular strap member of transparent plastic into which is inserted an identification card that bears patient information. After insertion of the identification card, the ends of the strap are secured about the wrist of the patient by means of a clamp, which once locked cannot be readily removed. The cards used for the patient information are provided in the form of a sheet with parallel rows of perforations defining the individual cards or strips, and a transverse line of perforations defining the identification and handle sections of the cards. In hospital use, patient information may be entered longhand on an individual strip, or the sheet may be inserted in a typewriter for typing the individual strips. Another alternative, which has been practiced to some extent, is to insert the strips in a roller-type imprinter, the strip being superimposed on an embossed card bearing the patient information. When the roller is drawn over the strip, the roller, which contains ink, is pressed downwardly against the strip, and a printed impression of the patient information is formed. Such ink roller imprinters are supplied by a number of companies, such as Pitney Bowes and Addressograph. (Pitney Bowes, Inc., Stamford, Conn., and Addressograph Multigraph Corp., Cleveland, Ohio.)
Special non-smearing pens may be used for the longhand entry of information, and typewriters may be equipped with ribbons where the ink is relatively non-smearing. However, the inks used with roller imprinters, are subject to smearing or blurring, being essentially non-drying inks. As will be appreciated, illegibility of entered information can be a serious problem in hospital use. When a hospital is equipped with ink roller imprinters, it would be desirable to use these machines for printing the hospital bracelet identification cards, but the tendency of the entered information to become illegible has tended to limit this procedure. Longhand entry or typed entry has therefore been used although roller imprinting was available. There has been a recognized need for an improved kind of insert for hospital identification bracelets which could be used with ink roller imprinters while avoiding the problem of smearing and illegibility.